In education, funding matters

Americans believe in equal educational opportunity, so why do glaring gaps in school resources occur?

Low-income parents and parents of color have long demanded well-funded schools to provide their children with the same level of education that wealthy white children receive. Often the answer to their pleas is “no,” as educators, politicians, policymakers — even many members of the general public — claim that “money doesn’t matter” for school quality.

But the facts say otherwise, as spelled out in the report released on Feb. 18 by the Equity and Excellence Commission, solicited by the U.S. Department of Education, and those recently released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Center for American Progress. The Equity and Excellence Commission, a group of 27 educational experts, economists, and civil rights leaders, write that there is a dire need to address the current educational system’s unequal distribution of opportunity, including by funding inequities.

In Massachusetts, students attending the top ten school districts with the highest SAT receive an average of $16,010, while those in schools with the lowest scores receive approximately $13,799. That’s a difference of more than $2,000 each year — approximately the same gap in per-pupil spending separating U.S. states ranked in the top and lowest fifth in student performance.

This achievement gap is not a coincidence. Money matters.

Money translates into tangible resources that make a real difference. It means more qualified and experienced teachers, laboratory equipment, attractive school grounds, heat and air conditioning, buildings without asbestos, rats, and lead.

More money per pupil can also boost technological facilities, ensure more diverse and rigorous course offerings, and pay for after-school and extracurricular activities that enhance student attendance and attractiveness to college and university admissions officers. The reality is that without these resources, students in under-resourced schools rarely reach the same levels of academic achievement as their peers in resource-rich schools.

Resource availability also shapes messages children receive about their own worthiness and life prospects. Children attending poorly resourced schools with crumbling buildings, overcrowded classrooms, barred windows, old textbooks, and not enough desks and skilled teachers to go around, learn that they are less valuable than children who attend schools with better teachers and facilities. Thus, resource inequalities can dash pupils’ dreams and aspirations before they’re even fully formed.

Americans believe in equal educational opportunity, so why do glaring gaps in school resources occur?

Resource inequalities occur because U.S. schools rely on fragmented and complicated funding arrangements. Schools are primarily funded by local property taxes, supplemented by state and federal contributions. The United States is the only Western industrialized nation that primarily funds its schools based on the value of the homes located nearby.

To compensate for uneven and often low property tax revenues, many states provide supplementary funding. But such state funds do not always fill in local gaps. In their 2011 report, Return to Educational Investment, the Center for American Progress found that, nationally and combining all funding sources, schools in affluent areas receive an average of $825 more per student than those in high-poverty areas.

In the last 30 years, U.S. leaders have tried one approach after another to improve our schools. Reformers have tried vouchers, tests, “accountability” regulations, charter schools, small schools and the infusion of new Teach for America teachers.

But politicians and reformers have not insisted that every child receive the resources they need to succeed academically, regardless of where they attend school. Arguably, U.S. education reformers have been rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship that lacks sufficient resources to stay afloat.

To right this ship, many schools need more resources, which then must be spent wisely. Available research finds that improved infrastructure, programmatic offerings, and teacher quality boosts student engagement and leads to higher levels of academic achievement, high school graduation, and college attendance. More resources could also reduce deeply entrenched racial inequalities, which persist almost six decades after the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown vs. Board of Education ruling intended to begin equalizing education for all children.

Increasing school funding is not easy, especially in hard economic times. But as the Equity and Excellence Commission write, these achievement gaps weaken the country internationally, economically, and morally. To address them, we must act urgently.

Melissa F. Weiner is an assistant professor of Sociology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.